Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animal featured on the cover of Programming Python, Second Edition is an African rock python, one of approximately 18 species of python. Pythons are nonvenomous constrictor snakes that live in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and some Pacific Islands. Pythons live mainly on the ground, but they are also excellent swimmers and climbers. Both male and female pythons retain vestiges of their ancestral hind legs. The male python uses these vestiges, or spurs, when courting a female. The python kills its prey by suffocation. While the snake's sharp teeth grip and hold the prey in place, the python's long body coils around its victim's chest, constricting tighter each time it breathes out. They feed primarily on mammals and birds. Python attacks on humans are extremely rare.

Emily Quill was the production editor for Programming Python, Second Edition. Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary, Nicole Arigo, and Emily Quill copyedited the book. Matt Hutchinson, Colleen Gorman, Rachel Wheeler, Mary Sheehan, and Jane Ellin performed quality control reviews. Gabe Weiss, Lucy Muellner, Deborah Smith, Molly Shangraw, Matt Hutchinson, and Mary Sheehan provided production assistance. Nancy Crumpton wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with Quark™XPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato and Melanie Wang designed the interior layout, based on a series design by Nancy Priest. Cliff Dyer converted the files from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6, using tools created by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book; the code font is Constant Willison. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano using Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Nicole Arigo.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Madeleine Newell) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, and Jeff Liggett.